Improved refrigerator



UNITED STATES PATENT j OFF-Iori;

wILsoN BRAY, or srooxron, maw JERSEY.

nIMPROVED REFRIGERATOR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 82,076, dated September 15, 1868.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILSON BRAY, of Stockton, in the county of Hunterdon and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Refrigerators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof,

.which will enable others skilled in the art `to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, in which the drawing' represents a side sectional View of a railway provision-car provided with my improvement.

rIhis invention relates to a new and useful improvement in refrigerators, and the iml l provement is applicable to railway provision are essentially requisite in keeping animal and Vegetable substances in a perfect state of preservation.

:The body of the car is constructed with double sides a, a, a double bottom, b I), and a double top, c c, a space, say, of four inches, being allowed between the double sides, bottom, and top, which space is filled with char-- coal or other suitable non-conducting material, in order to keep the interior of the carthe provision-chamber Awas free from exter': nal atmospheric intl uences as possible. Within the chamber A, at one end thereof', there is placed an ice-box, B, which has a siphon, C,

at its lower end, to admit of the discharge of waste-water from B, and still exclude the air therefrom. On thc'top of the ice-box B there is placed a box, D, in which pnlverized charcoal or other absorbent of "moisture and noxious vapors is placed. E is a fan, which is placed within a suitable box, F, and driven by a belt, G, or gearing from one of the axles of the car. l

It is not designed that the fan-box F shall have any communication with the external air; but it communicates with the chamber A by an opening, aT, in its top, or at any other suitable part. The lower -parts of the fan-box F and ice-box B are made to communicate with each l other by means of a trunk or pipe, H.

By this arrangement, as the car is drawn along in the direction indicated by the arrow 1, the fair E will be rota-ted inthe direction i indicated by arrow 2, and a current of air will be forced through the pipe H, ice-box B, and

box D, as indicated by the arrows. By this means the air within A will hc kept at a low temperature, and the'charcoal orfother substance in D will absorb the moisture in the air, and also the noxious vapors contained. l

therein.

I design, in practice, to have -the inner surface of the provision-chamber lined with sheet metal, in order that the moist vapor coming in contact with it may condense thereon, and

roll or pass down the sidesthereof without bei ing absorbed, as'would be-the case if the sides4 of A had an exposed wooden surface.

In localities where ice is scarce and very cxpensive, as, for instance, in southern climates, a water-receptacle, I, may be placed in box B, and surrounded by a freezing-mixture, composed of muriatic'acid, tive parts, aud sulphate of soda, eight parts; anda pipe, J, may extend from pipe Hand passl down into the water in I. (These parts are shown in red in the drawing.)

The chief' difficulty in keeping animal and vegetable substances in a good state of preservation any materia-l length of time isdue to the moisture and noxious vapors which emanate fromv said substances.

A provision-chamber, even if kept at a low temperature, will not, if damp, keep animal and vegetable substances in good condition.

By my improvement I amenabled to maiiii tain a low, pure, and dry air within the provision-chamber.

Stationary refrigerators must have theirfan or 'other device used forl fmnlng the current operated by hand or other power.Y

Having thus described my 1nve11t1on,I clui in ent -v The forming or producing of a, current of' air Within the provision-chamber of a refrigerator by means of a rot-ary fan or other' mechanical device, so arranged as to impel or force the air through an ice-box or water-vessel surrounded by n freezing-mixture, and also through nvessel containing charcoal ory other-absorbent oli as new and desire to secure by Letters Patmosture and noxious gases, substantially as shown and described.

. L WILSON BRAY. Witnesses.:

Jos. L. HoPPocK, f THos. DYER. 2 

